Houston Breakthrough, October 1979 - Page 6. October 1979. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library. Web. March 19, 2018. https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/feminist/item/3084/show/3062.

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Transcript

CLASS OF 79
Who's most likely to succeed?
LOUIS MACEY
by Gabrielle Cosgriff
A patient goes to a doctor complaining
of memory lapses. "When did you first
notice this problem?" asks the doctor.
"What problem?" asks the patient. As
Nixon reassured Eisenhower, on the
recently-released White House tapes,
"people's memories are very short."
Which works out fine for politicians,
not so fine for voters. Last summer's
gas crunch, for example (remember last
summer's gas crunch?) was manna from
heaven for Houston Mayor Jim McConn.
In May, with his image badly tarnished by the Las Vegas gambling fiasco
antf the Jack Key kickback allegations,
McConn said he would not undertake
an "unwinnable" re-election campaign.
(That's a startling admission for a politician to make several months before an
election. Most of them have a hard time
conceding even after all the votes are
counted.)
But then our attention was diverted
from the scandal at City Hall to the
scramble for gas. Today, the gas crisis
has evaporated, temporarily anyway, and
we can drive down the freeway without
anxiously scanning the horizon for green
flags. Which gives us time to read the
billboards, which remind us: "We already
have a good mayor—Jim McConn."
Politicans, particularly the incumbents, rely heavily on the short memories
of the voters. This makes for campaigns
which are dictated by events rather than
issues.
"Improving the quality of life" is the
most popular campaign promise this year.
When pressed for specifics, this boils
down, most frequently, to fixing the potholes. As McConn said last May, "Unless
the water-main breaks and the potholes
are fixed come November, there'll be
somebody new in that chair. . ."
Well, it's November and the potholes
aren't fixed. Jack Woods, political commentator and gadfly, explained it this
way: "You know why a dog has fleas?
It's for the same reason that politicians
leave potholes in the streets. A dog has
fleas to keep its mind off being a dog.
Politicians leave these potholes in the
streets to keep the people's minds off all
the corruption and stealing that's going
on . . ."
Jim McConn
This brings us to The Dark Cloud Over
City Hall, which, like all clouds, is rather
murky and difficult to grasp.
Charges of possible bribery, extortion
and campaign expenditure violations are
being investigated by a federal grand
jury. McConn and incumbent council
members have testified in the investigation, which was triggered by extortion
charges filed against Jack Key, the city's
former purchasing agent.
U. S. Attorney J. A. "Tony" Canales
has come under fire for allegedly suspending the investigation until after
the election. (Canales did not suspend
the investigation. He announced that the
investigation would continue except for
appearances by witnesses.)
Noble Ginther, who withdrew from
the mayoral race because of health
reasons, accused Canales of "ill-considered political actions" and of casting "a
dark cloud over our entire city election
procedure." He fired off a letter to President Carter and U.S. Attorney Benjamin
Civiletti, calling Canales' action "totally
reprehensible," and last week filed a suit
against Canales.
McConn and council member Louis
Macey, also a candidate for mayor,
agreed with Ginther. McConn said Canales should "either indict or clear" those
under investigation, while Macey accused
Canales of "a terrible disservice" to the
city council and the people of Houston.
Leonel Castillo, who resigned his job
as Immigration and Naturalization Commissioner to run for mayor, was more
reserved in his assessment. "I do not want
to interfere with any decision by the U.S.
attorney," he said, "since I do not know
the facts upon which he based his decision." He did remark, however, that "the
matter stinks."
State Rep. Lance Lalor, who is running for city council, feels that Canales
and the F.B.I, are "absolutely convinced
there has been a lot of shady dealings in
the city, but they're very frustrated
because they can't prove what they know
to be true."
Ginther speculated that McConn, if
re-elected, would not serve out a full
term. "My hunch is we'll be having a
special election," he said.
"It's like Watergate," said Billie Carr,
"godmother" of Texas liberals. "We're
not going to know until after the election."
But some things we do know. One of
which is that McConn has done little to
inspire confidence that he has been "the
women's advocate" he promised when he
took office.
"McConn has done for women what
paint-by-numbers did for art," said
Houston feminist Barbara Cigainero. Jo
Stewart, social worker, felt McConn
"didn't do a damn thing for women."
"As a women's advocate, a potato farmer
from Idaho would have been more effective," claimed Renee Rabb, a former
NOW chapter president.
Macario Ramirez, a leader in the Mexican-American community, gave McConn
about the same rating as did feminists.
"His performance has been very poor in
the Mexican-American community," said
Ramirez. "He has a horrendous insensi-
tivity to the community in terms of services, political appointments. . . It's just
lip service, nothing of substance."
Lance Lalor, in his assessment, damned McConn with faint praise. "He's a
nice, well-meaning person who hasn't
seriously hurt the city," he said. "He's
excellent at kissing babies. If we had a
weak mayor form of government,
McConn would be excellent for the job."
But we have a strong mayor form of
government, which explains to a large
extent the support that McConn still
has from the black community, at least
from the leadership.
It is a fact of political life in Houston
that black support is necessary to be
elected mayor. Hofheinz had it. Briscoe
didn't. McConn has it for several reasons.
"Black folks in part want to vote for
a winner," said Varee Shields, editor of
the Forward Times, "and they don't
feel Castillo can win."
"McConn will get more black votes
than he deserves," Billie Carr predicted.
The Black Organization for Leadership
Development (BOLD) has endorsed
McConn. The Harris County Council of
Organizations (HCCO) did not.
BOLD supported McConn in 1977
and was rewarded by city contracts
channeled through Community Development. HCCO, which appears seriously
divided, split three ways on the mayor's
endorsement. McConn apparently got the
most votes, Macey next and Castillo a
distant third.
Popular wisdom has it that McConn,
in spite of his well-publicized adversities,
still has the "big money" support. In a
generally low-spending campaign, he has a
budget of about $400,000-more than
any other candidate. He is keeping a low
profile, tending to affairs of state, while
his son, Jim Jr., represents him at most
screenings and forums.
Louis Macey
But no one can accuse contender
Louis Macey of keeping a low profile.
The self-styled Lone Ranger and maverick on city council has galloped into the
race. His Halloween-colored billboards
promise a "better quality Houston" if
we elect him mayor.
Macey's campaign budget is slightly
lower than McConn's, about $350,000,
and he plans to spend half of that on
media advertising. (His TV ads use the
William Tell Overture to complement
the Lone Ranger theme.)
Always adept at using the media,
Macey lost no time in garnering free
headlines by engaging in a mud-slinging
match with McConn. {Macey demands
proof or apology from mayor. Macey
gives McConn ultimatum on apology.
McConn, Macey disagree on probe.
Mayor says Macey lying; Macey calls
mayor 'sick.')
But Macey is throwing more than mud
as he swims against the tide. He has a
very real chance of unseating McConn,
particularly if he can force a run-off.
Macey, a Republican, has a strong
constituency among conservatives. On a
KHOU-TV newscast recently, Bill Balleza
called Macey "a political powerhouse for
suburban housewives—they know they
can depend on him to show up at their
civic clubs."
He has some popularity with blacks
because of his fundraising for the United
Negro College Fund, and has also done
well with blacks in his past city council
races. But, as Joe Nolan of the Chronicle
pointed out, that support doesn't automatically transfer over to him in the
mayor's race.
Macey thinks of himself as a minority.
"I came from a difficult background,"
he told Breakthrough. "You don't know
what a minority is until you've got big
ears, are dark-complected and don't
speak Spanish. You're the guy with the
big nose on the block, skinny . . . When I
said my parents came from Lebanon,
they said what is that?
"I guess my ego it the thing that drives
me (to hold public office)" said Macey.
"I heard a preacher say once that you
can't serve god until you learn to serve
your fellow man."
Asked how, as mayor, he intended to
serve his fellow women, Macey said:
"Without promising any specifics, I think
you'd be wonderfully surprised if I could
tell you all the good things I have for
women—starting with the top of the
ticket on a bunch of departments, O.K.?"
When pressed for specifics, Macey
replied that it is against the law to
promise "any employment or thing." But
he did assert, "There's no question that I
have at least four department heads
picked out for women."
Leonel Castillo
Back home and running for office
again, Leonel Castillo is in many ways the
candidate to watch. A Mexican-American,
Castillo was city controller for two years
before taking a Washington appointment
to head up the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1977. He resigned that
job to run for mayor of Houston.
Some observers feel that his absence
from Houston could hurt him in terms of
name recognition and building a solid
base of support. He has had only two
months in which to campaign.
Nevertheless, he has a respectable
$250,000 in campaign funds, due in large
part to support from organized labor,
who have pledged both people and
finances.
Liberals, in particular, hold him in
high esteem. The Harris County Democrats endorsed him unanimously, as did
the Harris County Women's Political
Caucus and the Gay Political Caucus.
Billie Carr called him "the progressive
in the race."
"Leonel is the only intelligent,
capable, foresighted, scrupulously honest
of the major candidates for mayor," said
Lance Lalor.
But there are problems. Some liberals
feel that Castillo is trying to go it alone,
seldom asking for advice or taking any.
"He's never been a team-player type,"
said Carr. Some who gave him advice
urged him to wait it out two years or
run for an at-large seat.
"Leonel had to take the chance," said
HOUSTON BREAKTHROUGH
OCTOBER 1979